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Hugh Pickens writes "Things may get a little tight in space as seven shuttle astronauts blast off from Florida on June 13 to join up with six colleagues already on the International Space Station bringing the ISS contingent to thirteen, the largest number of individuals on the platform ever at one time. The 13 space-farers represent seven from the US, two each from Russia and Canada, and one each from Europe and Japan. '"I don't know what it's going to be like," says Endeavour commander Mark Polansky, a veteran of two prior spaceflights. "We know it's going to be challenging with 13 people aboard."' During five spacewalks, an external platform will be added to the lab which will enable those experiments to be performed that require materials to be exposed to the harsh environment of space and astronauts also have to fit equipment to the exterior of the platform such as batteries and a spare space-to-ground antenna."

Not that I'm disagreeing with you, there just aren't many definitions of 'country' that include the USA and exclude the EU. Common currency?

Eleven countries of the European Union currently do not use the euro. They are: Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania.(16 states do use it.)

Common language? How many Americans speak Spanish as a first language now?

The European Union has 23 official and working languages. They are: Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.Also, their use is very closely aligned with national boundaries.

Additionally, there are minority languages official only in some regions, like Welsh in Wales or Faroe in the Faroes.

Constitution? Britain doesn't have a written constitution, but not many will deny that it is a country.

The UK does have a constitution, but it isn't written in one document.